Country Reports
2023
April 25, 2023
West Bank and Gaza: Report to the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee
Description: The Palestinian economy faces myriad economic policy challenges and risks abound. The political and security situation continues to deteriorate. Public finances remain unsustainable, despite a contained 2022 fiscal deficit. The banking system has adequate capital and liquidity buffers, with stable non-performing loans, but there are signs of asset quality deterioration and weaker deposit growth, as Palestinians’ real incomes continue to erode.
April 25, 2023
West Bank and Gaza: Selected Issues
Description: Over the last two decades, the Palestinian economy did not create enough jobs to absorb new labor market entrants. This even as labor force participation rates remained stubbornly low and among the lowest in the world for Palestinian women. Female labor outcomes are particularly disappointing. For both sexes, there are high disparities in labor market outcomes across governorates and cities, reflecting geographic fragmentation and spatial mismatch between labor force and employment growth. Moreover, the gap in labor outcomes between the West Bank and Gaza has widened over time. Further facilitation of private sector job creation in high-productivity tradable services sectors could help absorb well-educated labor market entrants, while Palestinian Authority (PA) policies could raise female labor force participation and employment. But PA policies alone will not suffice to tackle job market challenges, as growth remains tepid in ambitious policy scenarios, barring easing of Israeli-imposed restrictions on the movement of people. Overall, a high elasticity of jobs to growth of 0.7 suggests improved labor market outcomes and higher growth would go hand in hand.
April 25, 2023
Republic of Kazakhstan: Technical Assistance Report-Government Finance Statistics (October 10-21, 2022)
Description: *Please note this report is only available in Russian* This technical assistance (TA) mission on Government Finance Statistics (GFS) was conducted during October 10-21, 2022. The main purpose of the mission was to review and finalize the annual GFS data submission for 2021. Provide training to new compilers and source data providers in the fundamentals of GFS, the accounting principles, and classifications aligned to the Government Finance Statistics Manual 2014 (GFSM 2014), bridge tables, and data quality control procedures. In addition, the mission provided recommendations on the delineation of the general government and the broader public sector.
April 24, 2023
Guatemala: Technical Assistance Report-International Taxation Challenges and Options
Description: In response to a request by the Ministry of Public Finance (MFP) of Guatemala, a remote technical assistance mission was carried out by the Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from March 7 to 21, 2022, to analyze certain international aspects of the country’s tax regime. Discussions focused on treaties for the avoidance of double taxation and their effectiveness in attracting foreign direct investment, transfer pricing regulations, and the implications for Guatemala of the minimum standards agreed by the tax base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project backed by the G20 and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
April 24, 2023
Morocco: Request for an Arrangement Under the Flexible Credit Line-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Morocco
Description: After a robust post-pandemic recovery in 2021, another severe drought and spillovers from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine slowed growth and raised inflation in 2022. The authorities’ policy response has been very strong, with fiscal, monetary, and financial policies appropriately calibrated to preserve macroeconomic stability while protecting the most vulnerable from the impact of the shocks. In addition, the authorities have accelerated the implementation of the vast program of structural reforms needed to make growth stronger, more resilient, and more inclusive. and made progress in further strengthening their institutional policy frameworks.
April 21, 2023
Jordan: Financial Sector Assessment Program-Financial System Stability Assessment
Description: The banking sector dominates Jordan’s financial system, and its strength is essential to support macroeconomic stability and the peg to the U.S. dollar. The authorities have implemented measures to enhance the system’s resilience and oversight since the 2008–09 FSAP, allowing it to withstand large shocks (Global Financial Crisis, Arab Spring, war in Syria and influx of refugees, COVID-19). Global growth headwinds, high energy and food prices as well as sharply rising interest rates are pressuring nonfinancial sector balance sheets.
April 20, 2023
Sweden: Financial Sector Assessment Program–Technical Note on Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision
Description: Since the last financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) in 2016, the authorities have adopted a number of regulatory reforms to enhance the resilience of the Swedish financial system. The key changes to the legal framework for banks and banking supervision in Sweden have mainly been a direct result of legal initiatives at European Union (EU) level.
April 20, 2023
Suriname: Technical Assistance Report-Medium-Term Macro-Fiscal Forecasting
Description: This TA report summarizes the context, mission findings, and way forward for CARTAC’s provision of TA support to Suriname’s Economic Affairs Department (within the Ministry of Finance and Planning). A new medium-term macro-fiscal forecasting framework (MTFF) will be developed via several TA missions, and will focus on linking high-level revenue and expenditure projections to projections of macroeconomic determinants. In addition, a clear and transparent method of entering the effect of policy changes on these projections, and the contribution of any ‘one-off’ factors to projected revenues or expenditures, will be a key feature of the tool. Finally, training, through hands-on exercises using Surinamese data, will play an important role in supporting the development and ultimate adoption of the MTFF.
April 20, 2023
Union of the Comoros: Second Review Under the Staff-Monitored Program-Press Release; and Staff Report
Description: Comoros is a small, fragile island state (population: 850,000) with low and shock-prone growth. A Staff-Monitored Program (SMP) has been in place since July 2021. Policies aimed to: (i) contain and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic; and (ii) start implementing reforms to overcome fragility, boost inclusive growth, and limit risks. The first review assessed implementation through end-September 2021 as satisfactory and rescheduled three structural benchmarks that needed more time from end-December 2021 to end-February 2022. This second (and final) review assessed implementation of end-December 2021 and end-February 2022 quantitative targets and structural benchmarks, as well as overall policy implementation under the SMP.
April 19, 2023
Republic of North Macedonia: Informational Annex
Description: The Bank and the Fund country teams on the Republic of North Macedonia maintain close collaboration, seeking synergies and harmonizing policy recommendations. The teams broadly agree in their assessment of the economic situation in the country.